Synagogue to replace Ground Zero Mosque on Times Square

NEW YORK (QHA) -

As fierce opposition foiled plans to build an Islamic community center near the site of 9/11 attacks, a Muslim developer has won a bid to rebuild a decades-old synagogue at the same site, OnIslam portal reports.

“We’re in the process of buying one of the last untouched corners of Times Square with an opportunity to secure the future of a synagogue that will serve the Jewish community for decades to come,” Sharif El-Gamal, a Muslim developer and the chief executive of Soho Properties, told the New York Times.

The Muslim developer's dream to create a religious and cultural center in Midtown Manhattan has become true after revealing plans to rebuild an 83-year-old synagogue.

El-Gamal's Plan to rebuild the Synagogue didn't spark controversy and went smoothly if compared with his earlier plan in 2010 to build an Islamic center near the site of the 9/11 attacks.

The proposed Islamic center was turned down after facing a heated national debate.

Mosque opponents argued that the planned building would be an insult to the memory of the 9/11 victims, but advocates say that the mosque would send a message of tolerance in 9/11-post America.

As reported, Muslim developer and his partner, Murray Hill Properties, bought the three-story building of the Synagogue for about $61.5 million from Parsons the New School for Design.